1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to refrigerators and, more particularly, to a refrigerator which has a draining unit to drain defrost water, produced by both an evaporator and a refrigerant pipe, to the outside of a cabinet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, refrigerators are machines in which cool air is produced through a heat exchanging process performed by an evaporator. The cool air is then supplied to a storage compartment so as to keep a variety of food, stored in the storage compartment, cool, thereby preserving the freshness of the food for a desired period of time. During operation of a refrigerator, air with a high humidity circulates in a refrigerator cabinet, starting in the storage compartment, passing through the evaporator, and then returning to the storage compartment. During operation, the air with high humidity comes into repeated contact with the cold evaporator causing frost to gather on the surface of the evaporator. The layer of frost on the evaporator gradually thickens over time, so that eventually the frost may block an air-circulating path through which the circulating air passes. Therefore, in a conventional refrigerator, a defrosting heater is installed near the evaporator to periodically defrost the evaporator. In addition, a defrost water tray is usually installed under the evaporator to collect defrost water from the evaporator, and the collected defrost water then drains to the outside of the cabinet.
However, a conventional refrigerator is problematic in that the defrosting heater is installed around the evaporator and the defrost water tray is installed under the evaporator. As a result, it is not likely to effectively defrost a refrigerant pipe which extends from the condenser to the evaporator.
In addition, conventional refrigerators do not have defrost water trays under the refrigerant pipe from the condenser to the evaporator. Therefore, when the refrigerant pipe is defrosted, the defrost water from the refrigerant pipe may flow into the storage compartment.